The invention relates to the field of glass halogen lamps and, more particularly, to a glass halogen lamp with an internally mounted shroud for reflecting infrared radiation back to the lamp filament.
Thin film optical interference coatings, known as interference filters, including alternating coating layers of two or more materials having different refractive indices, are used in the illumination field to selectively reflect and/or transmit light of different wavelengths. Interference coatings can be used to transmit various portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as visible light, while reflecting other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as ultraviolet or infrared radiation. These interference coatings are used in the lamp industry to coat Reflectors and/or lamp envelopes to achieve desirable illuminance patterns and to filter out undesirable energy.
Thin film optical coatings have been used on lamp enclosures to improve the illumination efficiency of incandescent lamps by reflecting infrared energy emitted by a filament back to the filament while transmitting the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the filament through the enclosure. The reflected infrared radiation heats the filament and reduces the amount of electrical energy required to maintain the filament operating temperature. Thus, the infrared reflective coating increases the illumination provided by a lamp for the same amount of energy input. The infrared reflective optical coatings can also improve the efficiency of an arc lamp in substantially the same manner.
One example of the use of an optical interference coating for reflecting infrared radiation in a halogen lamp is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,219. The thin film infrared reflecting, optical interference filter is coated onto the outer surface of the lamp envelope to reflect infrared energy back to the filament. Although this glass halogen infrared reflecting lamp provides a benefit of improved lamp efficiency, it is relatively expensive to manufacture due to the large amount of coating material used to coat the enclosure and due to difficulties in mounting the lamp within the parabolic reflector.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an efficient lamp with an infrared coating which is less expensive to manufacture and easier to mount than the known lamps.